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Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Donghyuck's funeral was a considerably small procedure for someone with his power and blood status.
All members of the Clan were allowed to pay their respects, but even so, Taeyong didn't know whether he even deserved such rights. He'd seen the boy's murderers, spoken to them, and even felt a sense of belonging and home around them that he had never before.
After much delibration, however, he still went to the funeral.
As he expected, the remains of Donghyuck's family had came. The dead boy's siblings stood in a straight line, looking grim and tired. Even the usually playful and active youngest brother was silent and slumping now, all traces of joy vanished.
Donghyuck's mother was bent over on her knees and crying as if Hell had risen to take her soul. Taeyong could feel the pain in her every sob, he'd cried the same way before, except there was no one to comfort him the way Donghyuck's father was trying to comfort her now.
Mark wasn't around. According to one of the Clan members outside, he'd gotten an anxiety attack and was sent to the hospital. The boy still hasn't awoken apparently. Taeyong felt bad. Guilty almost. But there were still a lot of things he didn't understand. Why did Donghyuck send someone after Seulgi? Why did they want to kill her? What did Lee Jeno find out about her? He didn't know whether he actually wanted to really know either, to be honest. His past experiences with finding out and knowing things had only made him more upset and endangered.
The first thing Taeyong noticed when he stepped into the funeral house was the way Donghyuck's father's lips tightened in disgust. Despite the situation, the middle-aged man seemed to still have it in him to hate on the half-blooded Lee, so it seems. Filth, his eyes screamed, as they followed the bleached-haired boy's steps.
"Lee Taeyong?" Donghyuck's mother rubbed a hand over both her red-rimmed eyes at the sight of the pretty boy. The expression on her face changed and something ghosted across her orbs.
That something that made Taeyong feel slightly uncomfortable, but he inclined his head at her mutely anyway.
The woman got up, pulling away from her resisting husband and clung onto the bleached-haired boy. "Taeyong, please, help me. My boy was so young, so innocent, you must help me avenge him, please..."
Taeyong gently removed his arm from the woman's grasp, and said as softly as he could, "I'm sorry, ma'am. I cannot."
"Please, you're Taemin's second-in-command, there's nothing you can't do, please..." She tried to hold onto him again, but her grip failed and her fingers slid off his veiny hands.
The boy smiled sadly at her, "Long gone are the days of Taemin hyung, ma'am."
